Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $484.18.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Retirement Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the second quarter worth $28,000. First Pacific Financial acquired a new stake in Linde in the first quarter worth $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Linde by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $456.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $218.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.44, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde has a 12-month low of $361.02 and a 12-month high of $479.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $451.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $447.87.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.57 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Linde will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.